Mercer Island residents — even when driving solo — have had access to I-90's high-occupancy vehicle lanes, however later this year when construction gets underway to add light rail across the I-90 express lanes, that access will go away.

The contract allows for the Washington State DOT to purchase up to 800 heavy-duty buses from all different propulsion types that included 12 different categories for all-electric buses, in which BYD was the leader in 10 of those categories.

Sound Transit will manage construction activities that enable WSDOT to improve speed and reliability by moving Amtrak service through Pierce County to a more direct and less congested track that Sound Transit owns near I-5 rather than along the Puget Sound shoreline.